Slow Roasted Spanish Style Lamb

Slow roasted Spanish style lamb is the perfect dish for a lazy weekend. Leave it to cook in the oven and take it out later for a dish full of flavour.

Some weekends are just made for being lazy. When you have been busy all week it is good to be able to relax and read a book or catch up on television box sets.

Now the days are getting chillier and Autumn is setting in, the shorter days induce a feeling of laziness and hibernation. The trees are turning red and leaves are falling to the floor. Mornings are misty and sunrise is later, a pink glow is in the skies when I get up to walk the dog.

A lazy weekend calls for food that is simple to prepare, left to cook slowly in the oven. The smell will fill the house with promise. On opening the oven door later you are greeting with a lovely dish which needs little to go with it. A warming dish that feeds the soul as well as the body.

This weekend was a lazy weekend for me, lacking energy I decided to cook something slow and simple but full of taste.

Grey’s Fine Foods had recently sent me a couple of their items to try, a milk fed lamb leg and a bottle of Lopez Cristobal Roble. This seemed to be the ideal chance to try it.

I decided to make a slow roasted Spanish style lamb. Spanish, because Grey’s Fine Foods are Spanish food merchants who import gourmet food, rare wines and drinks from Spain. It seemed appropriate.

How to make slow roasted Spanish lamb

Milk fed lamb is young lamb which is still at the milk feeding stage. The resulting meat is soft and creamy with slight gamey notes. I decided this would be perfect for slow roasting at a low temperature to bring out the flavours in the meat.

I prepared the lamb simply, cutting slits in it and inserting slivers of garlic and rosemary before browning it in a pan. It then went into the roasting tin and was seasoned with salt and black pepper.

To go along side it I prepared a sauce with onions, garlic, chorizo sausage, cherry tomatoes, black pepper, chicken stock and red wine. The ingredients were sautéed in a pan until soft, then the wine and stock added and it was simmered for a minute. The sauce was then poured over the meat and placed in the oven on a low temperature for four hours.

What did the lamb taste like?

The smell began to waft around the house, a rich meaty smell that promised good things to come. I just left it to cook, checking occasionally until it was ready. The dish can be served simply with mash and vegetables, or if you want to make more effort you can add roast potatoes and parsnips for a Sunday roast experience. It just depends how much effort you want to make. If you want to make the meal more Spanish you could serve it with tapas style potatoes, Patatas Bravas and Alioli would be perfect.

The lamb was soft and tasty, roasted to perfection. The Spanish style sauce complemented it perfectly, adding a touch of fiesta to the dish.The final dish was perfect served with a glass of Lopez Cristobal Roble. The wine was voted the Best Spanish Wine Vintage 2011. The taste of strawberries and blackberries with overtones of wood worked really well with the Spanish style lamb dish.

It was the perfect meal for a lazy day. For other lazy slow cooked dinners why not try roast beef in red wine sauce done in the slow cooker.